International Baccalaureate
International Baccalaureate Candidate School
Monte Gardens is a Candidate School for the Primary Years Programme*. This school is pursuing authorization as an IB World School. These are schools that share a common philosophy—a commitment to high quality, challenging, international education that Monte Gardens believes is important for our students.
*Only schools authorized by the IB Organization can offer any of its four academic programmes: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme (MYP), the Diploma Programme, or the Career-related Programme (CP). Candidate status gives no guarantee that authorization will be granted. For further information about the IB and its programmes, visit http://www.ibo.org
The International Baccalaureate (IB) is a global leader in international education-developing inquiring, knowledgeable, confidents and caring young people. The program empowers school-aged students to take ownership in their own learning and help them develop future-ready skills.
Learn more about the International Baccalaureate Program.
Our Transdisciplinary Units
Our program is a student driven inquiry based program that is guided by the transdisciplinary themes of global significance, students broaden their learning by developing their conceptual understandings, strengthening their knowledge and skills across, between and beyond subject areas.
Our students learn, collaborate and reflect on the significance of their learning to take meaningful action in their community and beyond. We emphasize that our students have voice, choice and ownership in their learning to become internationally minded.
Programme of Inquiry:
Our programme of inquiry is essential to teaching our units of inquiry. Please check out our units: Monte Gardens Elementary School - POI 2024 - 25 (2)_1.docx
Our Additional World Language is Spanish.
There are many benefits to language learning, including strengthening the brain and building brain flexibility. Students in grades 1-5 learn Spanish once a week for 30 minutes. The Spanish language is the most commonly spoken language in California after the English language.
The Arts:
Students participate in the visual and performing arts that are aligned with our transdisciplinary units. In grades K-3, students learn alongside an arts specialist and their classroom teacher to infuse art into their units of study. Students in grades 1-5 attend vocal music class. Our 5th grade students have the opportunity to participate in instrumental music. Our music instruction aligns with the California music standards and deepens cultural understanding.
Enrichment & Support:
All 4th & 5th grade students participate in hands-on learning and collaboration in the STEM lab. Lessons provide opportunities to learn through inquiry, exploration and discovery.
Growing Healthy Kids Garden Program:
Our Outdoor Classroom is a place where we develop the whole child by engaging students in nature and science. Students experience our rigorous NGSS standards that are embedded in our dynamic Growing Healthy Kids Program. Students interact in the garden over three units: fall gardening, cooking and nutrition and spring gardening.
Library Program:
Our school library is at the core of our program. Students can focus on the IB Approaches to Learning (ATL) which are skills and strategies that help students learn how to learn, and become self-regulated learners. The ATL skills include thinking, communication, research, self-management and social skills.
At Monte Gardens we focus on monthly IB Learner Profile Attributes:
2024-2025 IB Learner Profile Attributes Calendar
We also want to share our: Monte Gardens Language Policy and our Monte Gardens Assessment Policy.docx
